Racist abuse of Birmingham pub doorman investigated

The woman uses racist language and shoves the doorman

A video showing a woman using racist language towards a pub doorman is being investigated by police.

The clip, viewed more than two million times on social media, shows the woman swearing at the member of staff outside a Wetherspoon in Birmingham before shoving him and walking away.

More racist language is then directed at the bouncer and she is seen spitting in his direction.

A woman has been arrested on suspicion of racial abuse, police said.

The 24-year-old, from Worcester, was detained on Monday afternoon after she went to a police station at the force's request.

West Midlands Police said she was also accused of racially abusing another man and damaging furniture inside the pub.

She remains in custody.

"We are still in the process of trying to contact the victim and we would urge him to get in touch as soon as possible so we can take a statement," Ch Insp James Spencer said.

Wetherspoon confirmed the incident happened outside its city centre bar, The Figure of Eight, on Saturday night.

Regional manager, Heath Curley, said the woman had knocked over furniture while being escorted from the pub and had cracked the glass door by kicking it.

Mr Curley praised the doorman, who is employed by an outside agency and works regularly on Broad Street, for acting "calmly".

Wetherspoon said it would be pursuing the woman for criminal damage

A spokesman for the chain, Eddie Gershon, added: "This behaviour is completely unacceptable and the woman is barred for life."

"We will also be pursuing her for criminal damage and passing on the CCTV and bodycam footage to the police."

'Abhorrent behaviour'

The doorman, who has not been identified, said on social media: "I haven't been doing security for years like some, but in the short time I've been doing it I've seen and been through pretty much anything there is to see and go through whilst doing the job.

"This however, is something I, or anyone who looks like me shouldn't have to go through."

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Mike Olley, who runs the Westside Business Improvement District, said the organisation would be seeking to ban the woman from all city centre venues.

"We simply do not want and will not tolerate someone who exhibits this abhorrent sort of behaviour," he said.

"While incidents like this are rare, what I would like to highlight is the exceptional calm shown by the doorman concerned who, despite being racially abused and spat at, kept his head and did not react."